On this episode of Doctor Who, the Doctor takes us to Sherwood to meet Robin Hood. The Doctor doesn’t seem to think he exists though, and the Doctor begins his investigation in Nottingham. Check out Josh’s recap of this week’s Doctor Who episode, titled Robot of Sherwood, followed by both Josh’s and Violet’s thoughts about the episode!
To see Josh’s thoughts on this week’s Doctor Who episode, Robot of Sherwood, click here to get directly there!
Don’t need the Doctor Who episode recap for Robot of Sherwood? Click here to jump directly to Violet’s thoughts on the episode!
Episode Recap of Doctor Who, Season 8 Episode 3: Robot of Sherwood
On this episode of Doctor Who, The Doctor asks Clara where she would like to go. She decides Robin Hood would be her hopeful choice. The Doctor doesn’t believe in Robin Hood, but decides to amuse Clara by proving he doesn’t exist.
Back in Sherwood forest, he does in fact meet Robin Hood, and Robin Hood decides he wants to steal the TARDIS. The Doctor is annoyed by Robin of Locksley, and a sword/spoon fight ensues–The Doctor with the spoon. All the while the Doctor insists this can’t be Robin Hood. After some sword play, they visit Robin’s merry men. The Doctor begins analyzing every party of Robin’s land, trying to figure out who this Robin is.
Meanwhile, the Sheriff is causing trouble in the nearby lands. They are taking prisoners for labor, and gold for some unknown reason.
Back at camp, Clara talks to Robin about Marion, which leads to Robin talking about the infamous archery contest that Robin participates in disguised. The story goes pretty much as you’d expect until the Doctor decides to change things up, and joins the contest as well. The two keep battling for the top archery spot, but they are interrupted when the Doctor blows up the target. The Sheriff decides then it is time to capture the Doctor and Robin Hood. Robin jumps into action, and the Doctor finds out that the Sheriff’s men are robots. The Doctor surrenders, allowing himself, Clara and Robin to be captured.
They are taken to a dungeon, where Robin and the Doctor continue to bicker. Eventually one of the sheriff’s lackeys decides that Clara is the ring leader, presumably because she is the most rational. She is taken to the Sheriff for questioning.
During her “interrogation”, Clara tries to weasel information out of the Sheriff during their talks. The Sheriff was able to lead the mysterious robots that came from the sky, and now he is bent on world domination.
Finally we see what the gold is for—the Sheriff is making some sort of large circuit board looking device.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Robin, after some bickering still, are able to make their way out of their bonds. The Doctor is able to find a space ship, and determines that the Sheriff must be trying to repair the ship. The Doctor then realizes the ruse being set up–the story of Robin Hood and the Sheriff are meant to keep the people of Nottingham occupied, and accuses Robin of being a robot. Their argument is interrupted though, when the Sheriff has come, holding Clara hostage. The Doctor is willing to let the robot Robin die, but Clara won’t allow it. Robin then grabs Clara, and Robin and she jump out a window, swim to shore, and flee.
The Doctor figures out the plan for the gold, but can’t do much when a robot guard knocks him out. Robin brings Clara and some men back to help rescue the Doctor though, using metal plates to reflect the laser beams the robots are able to shoot.
The Sheriff tells the Doctor that Robin in fact is not a robot, and the Doctor realizes that Robin is a “legend”. The Sheriff and Robin battle, and eventually Robin sends the sheriff into some smoldering gold.
The castle begins to crumble, so the Doctor, Clara and Robin flee. Outside, the spaceship attempts to take off. The Doctor doesn’t think that the ship will have enough power from the gold it has accrued so far, but the Doctor, Clara and Robin save the day–by teaming up to shoot the golden arrow at the space ship, giving it enough gold to make orbit–but it explodes in space.
Before returning to the TARDIS, Robin and the Doctor have a final conversation about heroes, and how they both aren’t real ones–but might inspire others to be. As the TARDIS fades away, Robin meets his Marion.
Josh’s Thoughts: Doctor Who, Season 8 Episode 3: Robot of Sherwood
I thought this episode of Doctor Who was a little cheesy. I know the show tends to gravitate that way in the first place, but this episode seemed to go a few steps farther than normal. I never really thought the Doctor would quibble so much, especially when he thinks the thing he is arguing with is a robot.
I was sort of hoping the Doctor was right about the robot thing with Robin Hood. I think that would have made the episode a lot more interesting.
This episode of Doctor Who seemed to be a one-off episode, since the space ship blows up in the end. I am hoping that we eventually get a storyline going. Searching for Gallifrey perhaps?
Right now it sort of feels like we are waiting for something to come. What it is, I am not sure yet, but I am hoping it is something that jump starts this season into awesomeness.
So far, I am still enjoying Capaldi as the Doctor, with the exception of his bickering with Robin Hood all episode. Hopefully that is not a trend the Doctor plans on keeping very long.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 8 Episode 3 of Doctor Who: Robot of Sherwood
Although there were a few laugh out loud moments, overall I found this episode to be annoyingly cheesy. I know, I know, sometimes there are just those episodes of Doctor Who that are supposed to be “fun,” and I can understand wanting to slide a “fun” episode in after the first two episodes this season, but this one was just a little too over the top for me.
How often is it that a companion gets to pick where to go? Usually, it’s when they first join the Doctor as a companion. When Clara became a companion, she merely asked the Doctor to take her someplace “awesome,” which at the time I thought was a lame request. If she was that obsessed with Robin Hood, why wouldn’t she have chosen that as her first destination? I suppose you could say that she was put on the spot the first time she had a chance to make a request, and that now that she’s been traveling with the Doctor, she’s had time to think about where in history she would like to go. It just seems really random, is all.
And then for the robots to actually be involved in the background storyline that’s been starting to build this season, since they were trying to get to The Promised Land? It all just seems a little too convenient, much like immediately running into Robin Hood upon landing the TARDIS. Also, why was the Doctor so sure that Robin Hood wasn’t real? Has he been there before during that time period? But anyway, so we didn’t see Missy at all this episode, only the slight mention of the Promised Land. I’m beginning to think that this “Promised Land” is the name of a planet. Could it have something to do with Gallifrey?
I thought the end was dumb, how Robin Hood, Clara, and the Doctor all 3 teamed up to shoot the arrow. I have a feeling that that would not have worked in real life. In fact, I have attempted to team up with other people to help someone shoot a bow and arrow who had never shot one before, and it did not work, so I’m very skeptical that the golden arrow would actually go as far as they wanted it to, and hit the exact spot that they needed it to. I’m also skeptical that one golden arrow would have been enough to launch the spaceship into outer space. But whatever, sometimes you just gotta go with whatever unbelievable things happen on Doctor Who.
As for the Doctor, I thought it was really odd how childish he was acting this episode, considering the first two episodes. I would say that it felt out of character for this Doctor, but truthfully, we hardly really know this new Doctor yet. I think that this Doctor is still trying to figure out for himself who he is, actually. However, I did really like the final scene, where the Doctor and Robin Hood have their man to man conversation. I thought that was the best, most heartfelt part of the episode. Too bad we had to go through what felt like a lot of filler to get to it.
While I have still not yet embraced this Doctor, I feel like Peter Capaldi continues to do a good job portraying him. I also gained a little more respect for Clara this episode. I thought she handled herself quite well. But I am really looking forward to the next episode, which looks really creepy – my fave!
Scenes from Doctor Who, Season 8 Episode 4: Listen
Here are scenes from the next episode of Doctor Who, titled Listen:
